Ed's Viola Lesson
by EeveeAlchemist
Summary: Just a little short story for my other FMA fic, Pure. Ed attemts to play the viola behind Tara's back. What could possibly go wrong?


**Alright, Hiya everyone! This is just a little short story I wrote to get my mind back on Pure. I've had writers block, and I've had this idea for a while now, so I wrote it to try to get out of the stuck phase. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, or the Song Perpetual Motion (yes, it is a real song!)**

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Ed's Viola Lesson

~Tara's POV~

Tara stormed into the room and slammed the door behind her, not caring that she had just scared the life out of Alphonse, who had been sitting on the couch. She heard him get up quickly as she stomped to the bedroom, the door crashing against the wall as she slammed it, its hinges making a loud creak of protest. She free fell onto her bed and stared the ceiling down angrily. _What a jerk, _she thought. _How dare he.. just how dare he?_

She heard a knock. Alphonse's voice filtered through the door. "Tara? Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Tara growled and threw a pillow angrily at the door. "Go away, Al!"

Wisely, Alphonse backed down the hallway. Tara instantly felt bad. She shouldn't be taking her anger out on him. He hadn't done anything wrong. Sighing, she went through the possible things she could do to make herself calm down. _Hmm. Wait.. music. I need music. _Tara instinctively reached for her viola case. Her hand grabbed air, then she remembered. _Duh. This is Amestris. Different world. Wait.. _Quickly, Tara grabbed her notebook and began to scribble down some tools and objects. Then she ran out the door. She slowed down as she reached the living room. Al was sitting on the couch again, his head down. Tara felt extremely bad. She went over hesitantly. "Hey, Al.." She called to him gently.

Alphonse's head immediately raised. "Yeah?"

Tara smiled. "Can you do me a favor, please?" She showed him the list in her hand. "I need some things for.. something. Can you get them for me while I set up?"

Al happily obliged. "Sure! Wait.. wood, wire, _horse hair? _Tara, what exactly is this for?"

Tara didn't turn back to him. "You'll see. I think you'll like it." She left a confused Al in the house and went outside. She walked to the field up ahead and found a barren spot. She then began to draw a transmutation circle. She grinned to herself. _Oh yeah, this is gonna be perfect._

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~Alphonse's POV~

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Alphonse asked worriedly. He had brought the items that Tara had requested, much to his confusion. They now all sat in the middle of a transmutation circle that Tara had drawn. Alphonse was very curious. He knew that Tara was very knowlegable about alchemy, but he didn't know if she could actually use it. "I could help you transmu-"

Tara interrupted him with a smile. "I'll be fine, Al." She leaned down next to the circle. Alphonse watched as she put her hands gently on the circle. There was a flash of light and a small explosion, then nothing. Where the wood and other materials had sat was now.. something Alphonse had never seen before. "Uh, Tara?" He pointed to the object. "What is that?"

Tara was grinning happily. She bent down and picked up the two objects. Alphonse examined them. One was a skinny stick that held together a big clump of horse hair. The other was rounder and fatter. Tara grinned at him. "It's a viola! It plays music."

Alphonse was bewildered. That thing? "Its plays music? Really?"

"Yep! Here, watch." Tara placed the bulkier of the two items under her chin. She then placed the skinnier one on top of one of the four metal wires on the bulkier one, the hair touching the wire. She then drew the stick gently across the wire.

Alphonse was amazed. What a sound it made! He watched with interest as Tara placed a finger down on the string. The note change to a higher pitch. Al watched as she placed more fingers on the string, and lifted some in a sort of pattern. He listened as the notes changed in a rhythmic harmony, creating a lively tune. After a minute of listening, Tara stopped her bow and opened her eyes with a grin. "Perfect!"

"That was amazing, Tara!" Al cried. "Not only can you perform alchemy, you can make music as well!"

Al watched as Tara nodded, playing with her hair nervously, a small shade of pink appearing on her cheeks. "Heh, thanks, Al.."

Alphonse was excited. He had to show this to Ed! "I'll be right back, I need to get Brother to see this!" He started to run off, then turned back, suddenly curious. "Tara, was that a song that you were playing?"

Tara nodded. "Yeah, its called Perpetual Motion."

_Perpetual Motion. Interesting. _Alphonse nodded, then ran off to find Edward.

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~Edward's POV~

Ed sighed and leaned up against the side of the building. His talk with Tara hadn't exactly gone according to plan. Right after she had run off in anger, he had mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. Now he would never figure out what she knew, let alone get her to trust him anymore. Now he stood here, trying to figure out the best time to go and apologize.

Ed's senses suddenly went on hyper alert as he heard his name being called. Snapping his head up, he saw Al running towards him. "Edward!"

Ed got up quickly on instinct and ran over to his brother, looking from right to left for an enemy. "What is it, Al?" But there was something in Al's voice that made him relax slightly. He sounded.. cheerful?

"Brother, you have to come see this! Tara made something with alchemy!"

_Tara can use alchemy? Huh. There's a surprise. _Ed scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. "So, Tara can use Alchemy. So what?"

He was completely unprepared when Alphonse grabbed the end of his coat and started to drag him off. Ed fought back in protest. "Al, whats gotten into you!"

To his complete bewilderment, Alphonse turned on him and got into his face. Even though his eyes were only glowing red orbs now, Ed could tell that they suppressed anger and desperation. "I hate it when you guys fight!" Al growled. "Why can't you just get along? Is it that hard? I may not have a body, but I still have a soul! I may not feel any physical pain, but I can still feel it inside! It hurts to hear you guys fighting! So please, just apologize!"

Edward stood there, dumbfounded. It was true that he fought a lot with others, but he never knew just how much it had affected his little brother. "You've had this in you this whole time?"

Alphonse looked down at the ground. "Sorry, Brother.."

Ed shook his head. "No, Alphonse, I'm sorry." Then he walked off, beckoning Al to follow. "Lets go see this instrument you're talking about."

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"Well, this is probably the strangest thing I've ever seen."

Ed and Al were back at the clearing, staring at the lone viola. Tara had evidently gone off somewhere and left the instrument behind, tucked neatly in a small patch of grass in the corner. Ed was curious. Apparently is played music. "So.. how do you turn it on?"

Al shrugged. "She just picked up the skinny thing.. I think she called it a bow.. and slid it across the wire things."

_Hm. _Ed stared at the instrument. Bending down, he touched the strings. They made a soft 'twang' as she lifted them up again. He touched a different one. It's sound was lower. Ed grinned. This was.. highly interesting. "Alright.." He reached down again to pick up the bow and the viola.

Alphonse stopped him with a worried, "Wait.. I don't think we should touch it.. what if you break it?"

Ed payed no heed to his brother's warning. He picked up the bow, grasping both the soft part and the hard wood. Then he grinned and put the wood part to the strings, and started to fiercely rub it against the strings.

The strings made a horrible, ear splitting screech. Ed cried out in surprise, dropping the viola. He watched in horror, and he and Al both reached out to stop it from hitting the ground.

They were both too late.

Ed watched, terrified as the viola crashed to the ground, the top part splintering from the force of the fall. The neck of the instrument snapped, hanging limply from where the strings held it to the body of the viola. Ed stared at it. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. A stunned silence filled the air.

Alphonse broke it after a minute. "Brother," He began in a stunned whisper, "What did you _do?"_

Ed didn't speak. He only thought. _Oh crap. _

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~Tara's POV~

Tara watched the clouds. She had left her viola and gone off into the woods to walk around. She hadn't gotten time to really explore the new territory, so she took this time to do so.

However, she stopped short when she heard the screeching sound. Leaping to her feet, Tara did a 360 in habit, searching for a threat. Then she realized that the screech was oddly familiar.. Tara face-palmed. _Idiot. Ed, I'll kill you._ Tara turned on her heel without a word and walked back into the trees, heading toward the house.

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~Ed's POV~

Ed had been arguing with Al on what to do with the broken viola when Tara had stormed through the trees. Ed and Al both froze in mid sentence, terrified of Tara's expression. A scowl was written across her face, her eyes had flames burning in them. If looks could, kill, Ed and Al would both have been dead in an instant. She walked with tight steps, walking straight towards the two terrified boys. Ed didn't dare to breathe as she walked until she was in their faces. Her eyes gleamed. Edward Elric, the great Fullmetal Alchemist, was terrified of her.

Tara hissed through clenched teeth. "Alright.. which one of you did it? Which one of you harmed my precious?"

To Ed's shock and anger, Alphonse quickly pointed to Edward. "It was Brother!" He cried.

Ed gasped. "Traitor!" He accused. A hissing made him stop, and he turned slowly to an angry Tara. He laughed nervously, then quickly bowed in apology. "I'm sorry! I can fix it!"

Tara silenced him with a swift wave of her hand. "No way. You've done enough. I'll fix it myself."Tara went over to the broken viola and drew out another transmutation circle. She then activated it. There was another flash of bright light and a small explosion, then nothing at all. Sitting where the broken viola was once sitting was now the same one, but good as new. Tara picked it up and drew the bow over the strings, making sure it was in tune. When she was satisfied with the sound, she put the viola down gently, then walked back over to Ed. Ed had relaxed a bit, seeing as she looked calmer.

That was a big mistake.

Ed wasn't at all expecting it when Tara rushed in and kicked him square in the face. "Agh!" He cried, getting up very slowly. "What the heck was that for!"

Tara seethed. "For wrecking my creation! You obviously have a lot to learn!" Then, to Ed's surprise, Tara stretched out a hand, offering to help him up. Ed, being extremely surprised and letting his guard down, took it.

Tara immediately took it, but instead of helping him up, she flipped Ed over her shoulder and onto the ground. Ed groaned. _Oh great, we have another one like Teacher. Just great._ He got up very slowly and warily kept an eye on Tara. She had gone back over to the instrument. Then she sighed. "Ed, you should have asked. When are you gonna learn to look but not touch?"

Ed seethed. Al chuckled quietly and spoke, "I tried to tell him."

Ed waved him off. "Yeah, yeah.."

Tara then picked up the instrument. She closed her eyes, and to Ed's amazement, began to play. The tune was soft and slow, like a sorrowful lullaby. She played for several minutes. Ed never took his eyes off of her. He was fascinated by this instrument, and the look of concentration in Tara's expression. When she stopped playing, it was like he was awakened from a trance. He looked at her, and she smiled. "So," she asked, "What do you think?"

Ed didn't say anything, only stared at her. Tara scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Who knew the famous  
Elric brothers could get so amazed over music."

With that, she turned and carried the viola into the house, leaving Edward staring after her. Alphonse laughed behind him. "Are you alright, Brother? You look a little pale. Suffering from love sickness?"

Ed shook himself and shot a glare at his brother. "No way. Shut up, lets go inside." He followed Tara inside, Alphonse trailing behind him, still chuckling to himself.

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**Alright! So, whatcha think? Good, bad? Review? Please?**


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